


Drinking from the lake of Mnemosyne

by SteelGrace



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: F/F, Raelle's mama taught her things, Southern Raelle, The Lake of Memory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:13:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23582167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteelGrace/pseuds/SteelGrace
Summary: What if Raelle remembered far more then she told people.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 11
Kudos: 175





	Drinking from the lake of Mnemosyne

She didn’t notice it until the Witch Father placed Porter’s scourge in her hands, the sudden knowing that Porter had spent twice the amount of time as everyone else to pick the best materials, to bless every part of the scourge he painstakingly put together, and the blessings he spent weeks weaving into the weapon after it was put together. He had become a perfectionist when putting the weapon together, and Raelle could see every moment he put into it.

The weapon sang in her hands reminiscent of the battle hymns Porter had sung to it for months, an echo of his voice in her ear sounding with every swing destroying the mannequins in her way. Abigail’s comment about knowing how to use it almost made her laugh. Her mother had taken every opportunity to teach her everything she could any time she was home. How to defend herself, how to fix, and how to use her voice to make extra money when things got hard and her mother wasn’t there to help. If she hadn’t lost her temper and let it blind, her Abigail would have been a black and blue mess on the training mats during their fight.

Byron’s scourge was content on her hip a cooler counterpart to Porter’s fire. Raelle fell back to stand at Abigail’s shoulder as Tally lined up to take her first run. Beltane had helped more than she had thought it would, the conversation with Byron a solace she didn’t want to admit she needed. Raelle would give his offer some serious thought about getting his help when it came time to have a new Collar, he was a good man and chances where he would live far longer than she would, so any kids would be looked after.

Raelle shook her head a flash of Byron flushed and lazily sprawled naked on a bed, Porter’s voice asking if he had enough energy to go to training after last night, she didn’t want to know what they got up too, and that was an image of far too much Byron for her. As the halls started to empty of people, Raelle held back a moment.

“I’ll meet yall for lunch in a minute.” She encouraged her girls, Abigail giving her a knowing look as she spun her scourge, before following a chattering Tally leaving Raelle alone for the moment. As she spun the scourge Porter had poured so much of himself into, she thought back to the scattered images of his death. 

The moment of intense fear, pain, and grief. As the Scourge was almost directly behind her Raelle whipped it forward a sibilant hiss escaping her lips lighting up the dart like a flare as it exploded through the mannequin leaving behind only so much fine powder. Porter’s anger, her mother’s anger, her anger quite soothed for now.

\---------------------------------------------------------

It was easier than she thought it would to get used to walking with a pair of scourges on her hips. They gave her a sense of safety or maybe balance was the better word. Raelle went through the lunch line quickly before joining her unit at their table. Sliding into the seat opposite of Abigail. Tally who had been talking about keeping up correspondence with Gerit paused when Raelle started eating.

“I thought you didn’t like oranges?” Asked Tally a puzzled look on her face.

“I don’t.” Replied Raelle.

Abigail who popped her head up at Tally’s question raised an eyebrow, “Then why are eating one?”

Raelle paused just becoming aware that she was in fact eating an orange, she hated the things, but Porter had loved them and some of that had carried over. She didn’t love oranges, but she no longer hated them. Raelle shrugged in answer at Abigail and continued eating, the sheer number of calories that she now consumed because of the constant work that was required of them sometimes disconcerted her. Her mama had told her how much she would need to eat, but she hadn’t really believed her until she hit basic herself.

Raelle kept a wary eye on her teammates eating habits, she hadn’t needed to poke Abigail any, but she had needed to occasionally ply Tally with snacks. She knew Abigail had noticed her behavior, but it was unspoken between them that they would look out for Tally, so that her shiny demeanor didn’t let her overlook some of the things her Mom had failed to teach her.

Though for all that Abigail had noticed her habits of plying Tally with food when she wasn’t eating what she needed to, Bellweather had failed to notice Raelle’s habit of taking on some of the pulled muscles and bruises that she and Tally had a habit of collecting, not all of them just enough to make sure they could all bounce back a little quicker than everyone else. Her time with Scylla easily raised the energy to quicken her own healing, she just cut back on the number bruises she took on to curb the worried looks Scylla would get. Her muttered commentary about her drill instructors was heartwarming though.

She got good at hiding the injuries she took on at Chippewa Cession to make some extra cash when they needed it to make ends meet. The people may not have fully accepted Raelle’s family regardless of their long history in the territory, but they did shelter them. Her household was never in danger from starving even if things were tight, but then everyone had tight belts in Chippewa, as the people appreciated the blessing the Collar women gave the fields and the fixing, they offered to people over the years.

Her pa on the other hand was a mechanic. He fixed farm equipment mostly and he tried his best, but her mama’s loss had broken something in him. Raelle well her mama’s loss had woken a rage that terrified her sometimes, she was just so angry at everything after her mother’s death, it was like nothing else mattered. When she’d gotten to basic it didn’t take long for her to start snapping at people, to start pushing, and in the end all she’d accomplished was finding … friends, in her teammates and something far more in Scylla.

Scylla…

Scylla who thought her storm and fury was beautiful. Who understood her rage at the world that taken so much from her. Who gave her a reason to stay and inadvertently showed her more reasons to stay in her teammates. In this moment it didn’t matter about all the death going on outside, about the death that had managed to follow them into what should have been a safe place. Right now, surrounded by her teammates and plans to meet Scylla later, well maybe she was finally doing alright. 


End file.
